Ann Veronica Janssens
Creating a Lens out of Fluids

“This is exactly how life started, with processes like this.”

“I’m interested in the theme of vision, and in optics, the eye.” Find out how a floating drop can maintain its shape in a liquid-filled container, resembling the process of how life began. In this video, the thrilling Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens demonstrates the method behind her work ‘Aquarium’ (1991) to Professor in Physics, Kristine Niss.

“The shape of the drop varies according to the amount of oil that I add and the density of the water and alcohol mix inside.” In ‘Aquarium’, a transparent container is filled with a liquid in the centre of which you see a floating drop that creates a lens shape. Preserving the stability of the drop in the container, Niss comments, requires great care.

Ann Veronica Janssens (b. 1956) creates installations, projections, immersive environments, urban interventions, and sculptures that explore the sensory experience of reality. Her work has been shown at the Lyon Biennale, France, the 48th Venice Biennale, Italy, at the Hayward Gallery and Tate Modern in London, UK, the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, USA and at the Grand Palais in Paris, France. She lives and works in Belgium.

Ann Veronica Janssens was interviewed by Christian Lund at her studio in Bruxelles, Belgium in connection to the exhibition ‘Hot Pink Turquoise’ at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark in January 2020.

Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard

Edited by Rasmus Quistgaard

Produced by Christian Lund

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2020

Supported by Nordea-fonden

Tags

Other videos in this series: Ann Veronica Janssens

Added to playlist
35:56 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_In-Dialogue-With-Physics_1400

“In scientific research, you accept the idea of failure. The idea is to have a result. In art too.”

Ann Veronica Janssens
In Dialogue with Physics

Added to playlist
04:56 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_Fluid-to-Solid_1400

“The sides are burnished, giving a different light and creating yet another play on colours and sensations with this material.”

Ann Veronica Janssens
Fluid to Solid

Added to playlist
04:22 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_Drawing-with-Fluids_1400

“A bit like changing the flowers’ water, you redo the sculpture.” 

Ann Veronica Janssens
Drawing with Fluids

Added to playlist
05:55 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronice_A-Piece-of-the-Sky_1400

"It’s a bit the limit of sculpture."

Ann Veronica Janssens
A Piece of the Sky

Added to playlist
05:31 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_Creating-an-Optical-Illusion_1400

“The beauty is also in this kind of fragility.”

Ann Veronica Janssens
Creating an Optical Illusion

Added to playlist
05:38 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_To-Walk-Into-a-Painting_1400

“We’re blinded in light and colour.”

Ann Veronica Janssens
To Walk Into a Painting

Added to playlist
14:36 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_1400

Ann Veronica Janssens
Passion for Light

Related videos

Added to playlist
05:38 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_To-Walk-Into-a-Painting_1400

“We’re blinded in light and colour.”

Ann Veronica Janssens
To Walk Into a Painting

Added to playlist
05:31 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_Creating-an-Optical-Illusion_1400

“The beauty is also in this kind of fragility.”

Ann Veronica Janssens
Creating an Optical Illusion

Added to playlist
04:22 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_Drawing-with-Fluids_1400

“A bit like changing the flowers’ water, you redo the sculpture.” 

Ann Veronica Janssens
Drawing with Fluids

Added to playlist
04:56 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_Fluid-to-Solid_1400

“The sides are burnished, giving a different light and creating yet another play on colours and sensations with this material.”

Ann Veronica Janssens
Fluid to Solid

Added to playlist
05:55 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronice_A-Piece-of-the-Sky_1400

"It’s a bit the limit of sculpture."

Ann Veronica Janssens
A Piece of the Sky

Added to playlist
14:36 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_1400

Ann Veronica Janssens
Passion for Light

Added to playlist
35:56 JANSSENS_Ann-Veronica_In-Dialogue-With-Physics_1400

“In scientific research, you accept the idea of failure. The idea is to have a result. In art too.”

Ann Veronica Janssens
In Dialogue with Physics

Featured series

A Closer Look at Danish Writers

A series of extensive portraits

Series / 26 videos

Advice to the Young

Advice from one generation of artists to the next

Series / 106 videos

Ann Veronica Janssens

The Art of Physics

Series / 8 videos

Artists on One Work

Works of art explored by acclaimed artists

Series / 37 videos

Banned Voices

18 authors whose books have been banned or challenged

Series / 37 videos

Becoming Paul McCarthy

On the influential and groundbreaking contemporary American artist

Series / 3 videos

Facing the Blank Page

Writers talk about the horror of the blank page

Series / 18 videos

Get Inspired With

A series that draws close attention to the inspiration process

Series / 4 videos

Most watched

Top ten most-watched interviews from the Louisiana Channel

Series / 10 videos

My Last Picture

Artists reflect upon their last or final work.

Series / 3 videos

On Jørn Utzon

Architects on Danish architect Jørn Utzon

Series / 11 videos

On Marsden Hartley

Artists on American painter Marsden Hartley

Series / 5 videos

On Outer Space

Artists on Outer Space

Series / 12 videos

On Sonia Delaunay

4 perspectives on one of the great artists of the 20th century

Series / 4 videos

Poetry as a Performance

Poets on performing poetry

Series / 6 videos

Seen & Selected by Ellie Stathaki

The Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper* Magazine shares her favourite architect portraits from our archive

Series / 8 videos

Seen & Selected by Jerry Saltz

The Senior Art Critic, 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, and author of the New York Times Bestseller 'How To Be an Artist' shares his favorite 'Advice to the Young'

Series / 12 videos

Seen & Selected by Katy Hessel

The author & founder of The Great Women Artists podcast shares her favourite portraits of female artists from our archive

Series / 12 videos

Writers on Art

Artworks interpreted by acclaimed writers

Series / 8 videos

Editors' picks

Added to playlist
01:45 CRAIG_MARTIN_Michael_Advice_To_the_Young_Cover_1

"The things that are natural to you aren’t natural to anybody else. They are yours."

Michael Craig-Martin
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
17:29 HOCKNEY_David_Another_View_of_the_World_Cover_1

In dear memory of an extraordinary artist and human being.

David Hockney
Another View of the World

Added to playlist
23:34 WYLIE_Rose_A_Thorn_in_the_Picture_Cover_3

”Contrast gives life. I think a painting needs life.”

Rose Wylie
A Thorn in the Picture

Added to playlist
06:57 CALLE_Sophie_Advice_to_the_Young_Cover_3

“My father always thought it was good, that I learned how to fight and be in problems.”

Sophie Calle
Advice to the Young

Added to playlist
16:25 NUTI_Lulu_I_Recognize_Myself_in_Iron_cover_3

“The material already carries a history.”

Lulù Nuti
I Recognized Myself in Iron

Added to playlist
21:53 DUCROT_Isabella_Near_to_Happiness_Cover_4

"I don’t want to lose time. I want to amuse myself every moment."

Isabella Ducrot
Near to Happiness

Added to playlist
10:52 JAFA_Arthur_Basquiat_Was_on_the_Bleeding_Edge_of_What_Was_Possible_COVER 3

“His intellect was startling.”

Arthur Jafa
Basquiat Was on the Bleeding Edge of What Was Possible

Added to playlist
28:51 HICKS_Sheila_We’re_Crying_For_Softness_Cover_2

“Art is a big word.”

Sheila Hicks
We’re Crying For Softness

Added to playlist
13:07 10 architects_cover 4 JPG

”Architecture is a job for God.”

8 Pritzker Prize Laureates
On Architects and Architecture

Added to playlist
55:53 PIHLMANN_Søren_Make Materials_Matter_long_version_Cover_1

“We embrace what’s already there, and then we look for potential.”

Søren Pihlmann
Make Materials Matter (long version)

Added to playlist
10:53 PEI_Zhu_Build_Rich_But_Simple_Cover_1

“Great architecture is like poetry.”

Zhu Pei
Build Rich But Simple

Added to playlist
59:49 LOUIS_Èdouard_Who_Gets_To_Escape_Cover_1

“The will of escaping is such a universal condition.”

Édouard Louis
Who Gets to Escape?

Copy to clipboard